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Renji Yanagi
Renji Yanagi (柳 蓮二, Yanagi Renji) is a 3rd year regular at Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku and is known as one of the Three Demons (Sannin Bakemono) along with Captain Yukimura Seiichi and Vice-Captain Sanada Genichiro. He is a childhood friend and doubles partner of Sadaharu Inui, from Seigaku. He is known as the Data Master. Background Yanagi usually plays in singles, but sometimes in doubles. He is the friend and former doubles partner of Sadaharu Inui, having been known as the "Professor". He keeps his eyes perpetually closed just as Inui hides his eyes behind his thick glasses. He is Inui's rival in using Data Tennis, having taught Inui in the first place. In New Prince of Tennis, it is revealed that he himself learned Data Tennis from Mitsuya Akuto. Appearance Yanagi is a tall middle schooler with a bob cut hairstyle. He is often seen with his eyes slightly closed and he rarely opens them. His eyes are brown and his hair is black (brown in the anime). Personality Yanagi is quiet, mysterious, soft-spoken and and has a somewhat acid sense of humor though he is somewhat more approachable than the aloof and serious Sanada. Still, Yanagi can be as rough as the other Demons (Sanada and Yukimura) when required; in the manga, he once hit Kirihara for asking him a stupid question in public, and also asked Sanada to slap him if he lost against Inui. History Three Years Prior To The Storyline Yanagi and Inui attended the same Grade school and together formed a powerful Doubles team that went undefeated. They then decided to find out which one of them was the stronger one, so they decided to have a match which finished 5-4, which they vowed to continue. However, Yanagi moved to Kanagawa which meant they did not see each other for 4 Years, 2 Months and 15 Days as calculated by Inui. Two Years Prior To The Storyline Yanagi won the Nationals in his freshman year at Rikkai Dai along with Yukimura Seiichi and Sanada Genichirou. He became a regular and easily won their Prefectural Tournament and went on to win the Regionals and won the Nationals in his first year along with Sanada and Yanagi in the side also. One Year Prior To The Storyline At the start of this year, during tennis club training, he meets Kirihara and utterly defeats him. Yukimura and Sanada do the same. Yanagi and his unnamed doubles partner crush Shitenhōji's Zaizen Hikaru and Koishikawa Kenjirō at the National Semifinals in Doubles 2. They win the nationals for the second time in a row, this time, in the Award photo is Yukimura Seiichi, Sanada Genichirou and Yagyuu Hiroshi. Regionals Rikkai Dai's Kirihara, Yanagi, and Sanada appears watching the Kanto Regiona's Round 1 match between Seigaku and Hyoutei- Tezuka and Atobe's match to be exact. They stay and watch Ryoma's match with Hiyoshi as well. It is interesting to note that during this appearence, the Rikkai tennis uniform appears red. He played doubles with Sanada against Fudomine and won. Later, he played singles against his childhood friend, Inui but lost. Nationals Yanagi and Rikkai Dai go into the National Tournament expecting nothing less than victory. They easily crush all their opposition from the first round until they reach the Semifinals and drop their first games and first sets of the tournament against Nagoya Seitoku. However it was revealed that they gave up the first two matches on purpose to pile pressure on Kirihara Akaya so he could bring out his new Devil Mode. Yanagi then pairs up with Niō Masaharu for Doubles 2 and wins comfortably. Yanagi pairs up with Kirihara for the D2 match against Inui and Kaidoh for the National Finals. When Kirihara goes into Devil Mode after Kaidoh hits him, Yanagi allows his teammate to continue on in that state, though he calms Kirihara down when Kirihara steps and breaks Inui's glasses. Yanagi does not stop Kirihara from hitting Inui, but tells Inui to give up because the match was pointless. They then win as the Seigaku pair forfeits, angering a Fuji who played S2 next against Niou. Prior To U-17 Camp Yanagi and Inui work on an Inui Juice recipe and Yanagi decides to bring the drink to the Rikkai tennis club. U-17 Camp Yanagi arrives to the U-17 camp with all of the other Rikkaidai regulars. He notices after watching Momoshiro's planned match that they should watch out for the coaches. RenjiU17.png RenjiU17Kirihara.png|Yanagi against Kirihara in their tie-break. Yagyuu, Kirihara and Yanagi watch Yukimura defeat Sanada.jpg|Yanagi with teammates Kirihara and Yagyuu as Yukimura defeats Sanada in the tie-break. He pairs up with Kirihara during the Tiebreak elimination match, and was 1 point away from winning but then forfeits the game. He tells Kirihara that he needed to stay behind in the camp, saying "crawl higher" and then leaving with Sanada while his teammates looked on. Yanagi realized that Kirihara had to grow in order to lead the Rikkai tennis team to the Nationals next year. All the Middle Schoolers that lost their tie-break are taken away from the camp by coach however the driver takes a detour and they are met by the Mental Coach who takes them to to a mountain. He tells them to climb a mountain by the camp if they want the chance to stay in the camp. Yanagi and the 26 other middle schoolers complete this task and end up meeting the High Schoolers who were unable to attain a ball from the helicopter amd begin to train in the mountains. Yanagi and the rest of the middle school losers begin their training in the mountain, where he plays with the middle schoolers against the losing high schoolers on the court with an irregular bounce due to its topography. However, he and Inui use their Data tennis and play the high schooler until it was 2 vs. 3 this was an unfair competition as in reality, the Middle Schoolers had won due to the High Schoolers having far more players on their team than the middle schoolers giving them the unfair advanatage. The Middle School losers are then forced to sleep in the cave due to losing this encounter so tightly. The next challenge involved having a balloon attached to all the members of the Mountain training's waist, both Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers. The Middle Schoolers return back the main U-17 Camp, and completely defeat 2nd Court. U-17 Camp Revolution Yanagi faces his Data Tennis teacher Mitsuya Akuto the All-Japan Junior No. 17. Partway through the match, Yanagi loses motivation to continue because he calculates that the probability of his victory was 0%. Inui Sadaharu, who was watching the match, however, calls out to him and reminds him of nationals, convincing Yanagi to discard his data and play with all he has. Yanagi is utterly defeated, despite playing his best. He loses the match and collapses, entrusting the match to Inui, who Yanagi says has a 33.1% probability of winning, likely due to the data he was able to collect during Yanagi's match. It appears that Inui defeated Mitsuya Akuto, but Yanagi is seen wearing the No. 17 badge instead of Inui when the middle schoolers return to the courts. Inui helps him stand upright and walk after the match. Genius 10 Challenge Yanagi and the majority of the camp play audience to the match between Top 10 and their Middle School challengers. He and the data players comment on the players of the 1st match No.10 Mouri Juzaburou, his former Rikkai teammate in the year above him, and No.9 Ochi Tsukimitsu. Tennis Record Playing Style and Techniques Yanagi is a counterpuncher and a Data Tennis player, being able to mix the two in a frightening combination to observe the opponent and slowly destroy them. His analytic abilities and his own abilities as a formidable tennis player makes it hard for people to find his weak spot while Yanagi easily finds the opponent's. Yanagi's analysis also makes him fit for doubles, as he works well with his teammates Sanada and Nio and is one of the notable members that can keep his fellow teammate Kirihara Akaya contained when he's in his Devil Mode. His skills gave him the title of "Master" and earned him a consistent spot in the famous Rikkai Dai regulars ever since he was a freshman ever since enrolling into the middle school and helped lead the team to the Nationals Championship with fellow teammates Sanada and Yukimura, giving the three the title of "The Three Demons of Rikkai." Data Tennis A style of tennis based on data gathered on the opponents, Yanagi learned this from Mitsuya Akuto and taught it to Inui Sadaharu. Like Inui, Yanagi can quickly calculate where the next ball will land at and shows a sharp understanding of a player's psychology. Unlike Inui, however, Yanagi can calculate further than him to the point where he can predict what someone would say next. Yanagi uses his observation to not only outpredict an opponent, but he can use it to outplay an opponent and destroy their fundamental style of tennis, effectively shutting down their efforts. However, his Data Tennis can only predict so much; during his Singles 3 match against Inui, Yanagi was unable to realize that Inui was recreating their previous match they had until the score was set to where the duo left off. Also, he was unable to respond to Kaido's Tornado Snake/Gyro Laser tactic. His Data Tennis can be wrong as well, as he was unable to correctly predict Akuto's next words, and the data he collects from his Data Tennis is not always favorable, as he can predict his own losses due to being unable to match up to the opponent's skills. Kamaitachi (Wind Blade) A super high-speed (usually backhand) slice shot that can suddenly sink and hit the baseline, Yanagi was shown to be able to use this technique despite positioning his body low during his take-back for the swing. The backspin generated by the high-speed swing allows the ball to sink suddenly after reaching a certain level of speed. This technique is shown to create wind blades (hence its name) for visual effect when this move is utilized. Utsusemi (Cicada) A drop shot similar to Tezuka Kunimitsu's Zero Shiki Drop, the ball rolls toward the returner after landing. Personal Information *Height: 181 cm *Weight: 67 kg *Blood type: A *Horoscope Sign: Gemini *Hobby: Reading (pure literature) *Family Composition: Father, Mother, Older Sister *Father's Occupation: CPA (Certified Public Accountant) *Uses allowance on: Books *Favorite Motto: "One thousand days' training to forge, ten thousand days' training to temper." *Elementary School: Midorigawa Dai-ichi (First) Elementary School > Kanagawa Dai-ni (Second) Elementary School *Best Subject: Kokugo (Japanese), Classics, World History *Worst Subject: None *Committee: Student council secretary *Often visited place in school: Library *Favorite Color: White *Favorite Food: He likes everything, but prefers things with a weak flavor *Favorite types of movies: Ozu Yasujirou films *Favorite type of books: Pure literature (especially Natsume Souseki's work) *Favorite type of music: Old Japanese court music *Favorite Type: A very calculating girl *Favorite date spot: Literature house *Most wanted thing right now: Japanese literature outline *Daily Routine: Look over the morning and evening newspaper *Doesn't like/bad at doing: People who waste money and time *Special skill aside from tennis: Mental math, haiku, Go, Japanese chess, tea ceremony *Favorite Racquet Brand: Völkl Catapult V1 Midplus *Favorite Shoe Brand: Diadora Rebound Ace DA2 (128076 - ED784) Trivia *In the Musical, he is played by Kento Ono and by Yūki Yamaoki. He is currently being portrayed by Mizuishi Atom in the second season of Musical Tennis no Oujisama. *His birthday is one day after his childhood friend's, Sadaharu Inui, June 3rd. *He is the tallest member of Rikkaidai. *He and Nio Masaharu apparently like the same type of girl. Quotes *(About Tennis) "All you have to do is hit the ball where the opponent can't reach it. That's all there is to it." Gallery Answer.jpg|Answer character song My Sea of Japan.jpg|My Sea of Japan character song Category:Characters Category:Tennis Player Category:Rikkaidai Tennis Club Member Category:Middle Schooler Category:3rd Year Middle School Category:U-17 Camp Category:Counterpuncher Category:Right-Handed Category:Data Tennis Users Category:Kanto Players Category:Capable with Singles and Doubles Category:Kanagawa Players Category:1st Stringer Category:Revolutionary Brigade